Mugabe storms out of summit

South Africa Daily News

The African Union (AU) has called on Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai to negotiate a government of national unity (GNU), with the aid of a special envoy, much to the ire of the Zanu-PF leader, who stormed out of the Red Sea summit before it came to a close.

The resolution came just hours after both men said a GNU was not an option. Speaking on behalf of Mugabe earlier in the day, spokesperson George Charamba said Zimbabwe must not attempt to emulate Kenya in dealing with its problems.

"The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all," he told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh.

"Mugabe came here as president of Zimbabwe. And he will return as president of Zimbabwe."

Speaking through secretary-general Tendai Biti, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the "sham election" last week precluded all hopes of a negotiated settlement.

Despite the utterances of the two main players, the 53-member bloc proceeded to encourage the two rivals to "honour their commitment to initiate dialogue" in the name of reconciliation.

Without any reference to President Thabo Mbeki, the AU said it supported efforts of the SADC facilitation, but called for a special envoy, or "mechanism on the ground in order to seize the momentum for a negotiated settlement".

The South African government said it was satisfied with the summit outcome.

"As a member country, we are a part of that resolution," Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said.

"We wil continue to work with the Zimbabweans and we are convinced the challenges of Zimbabwe will be resolved."

However, he declined to put a time-frame on it.

Mugabe appeared less satisfied with the outcome and the closing session during which he came in for heavy criticism.

He and his entourage of bodyguards stormed out of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit centre some 30 minutes before the two-day meeting came to a close, missing the traditional group photo.

Independent Newspapers understands that a number of countries, SADC nations among them, had harshly condemned the actions of his party in recent weeks.

In a surprise move, Botswana broke ranks with the SADC negotiation team by telling the AU that they refuse to recognise Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe.

During the closed door session, Vice-President Mompati Merafhe said for all the reasons outlined in the recent reports of the observer missions of SADC, the AU and the Pan African Parliament, "the elections do not confer legitimacy on the government of President Mugabe".

The Botswana delegate said it was imperative that both sides of the divide were now brought together through a mediation process "that must treat both parties as equal" to help put a halt to the country's worrying decline.

Merafhe also appealed to African leaders to ban Mugabe's government from continental meetings, an appeal that failed to win sufficient support from his peers.

Merafhe called on the plenary to exclude the "representatives of the current Zimbabwean government from all future SADC and AU meetings", saying their participation "would give unqualified legitimacy to a process which cannot be considered legitimate".

However, the position was not adopted by the bloc.

Delegates from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal echoed Botswana's view, saying they too would refuse to recognise 84-year-old Mugabe as president.

Their views were not in keeping with AU tradition which is characterised by consensus. They were likely to have drawn the ire of Mugabe die-hards in their plenary address.

Meanwhile, armed groups attacked and seriously wounded at least three white farmers in Zimbabwe after last Friday's run-off presidential election, a farmers' union said on Tuesday.........